"... And I continued to cry even as I was being patted to sleep. After every hour, I would wake and continue crying — that's pretty lame if I may say. My father Davyon was so happy that he hosted a feast when he heard the news..."
"And that's how I was born. So my mum says." A nine-year-old boy with black hair and red eyes said as he sat on top of an artificial hill he made out of a small group of thieves.
He had been narrating his birth to no one in particular.
He sighed. "She could've at least given me a better name."
Then he chuckled. "Not like I could do anything against it. Even dad couldn't change her mind. After all, she'd been wanting a boy for so long that he just let her have at it."
This young boy jumped down from the ten feet high heap of bodies, all beaten unconscious.
He landed like a cat would, without any sound. He stretched his body and twisted his waist so it made a crackling sound.
"I don't think I can continue with this." He shook his head and walked away. A straight stick in one hand and a small pouch made tinkling sounds as he kept throwing it up into the sky. It was a pouch filled with coins.
"Feels really great to do this now and then." He smiled at the sound of the coins.
Just a moment ago, he was tired of having to collect money from these people again and again but the sound of coins made him forget all about his previous thoughts.
*****
"Where have you been?" A lady in her early forties sat beside a nine-year-old boy.
Although she was in her forties, she was beautiful enough to overshadow most young ladies.
The boy didn't reply but wore an apologetic expression.
"Sigh. I'm not mad at you, but you could've at least told me you were going somewhere and I would've sent someone to accompany you. You're well aware of how important you are to this family." The lady rubbed his head and cheek with both her hands.
"I'm sorry mother." He finally spoke out.
"Seth, I'm not against you leaving home but you should be more aware of your position in the family. You're the sole heir to the Samiel family, the sole heir." His mother said, continuing to rub his cheek and he seemed to like it.
This nine-year-old was precisely Draneil, now Seth, a name given to him by his mother, Leah.
'Well, that won't be for long.' He said to himself.
His mum was once again pregnant and it wasn't hidden from the whole household. The only problem was that no one expected another boy. It was obvious that having Seth alone was a blessing.
Seth was well aware of the child's gender. It would be another boy. Since he didn't want to be in charge of the family, this was a blessing to him but he still feigned ignorance and acted as a nine-year-old should.
"But mum, I want a brother." Seth said with a face filled with emotions.
'Damn! Humans are the greatest at acting.'
"I understand your pain…" His mother hugged him. "...since all three of your elder siblings are girls, you're not as close to them as you would to a brother." She said, ending her words with a sigh.
That wasn't totally true. His immediate older sister acted more like a boy than a girl. She would beat the crap out of anyone who tried to make life hard on Seth. She was almost like an overprotective older brother would be to his younger sister but in this case, it was twisted.
The family had four children, three of which were girls — Rachel, Reina, and Raela who was closest to Seth, the last child and only boy in the whole family.
Both of his positions would be changing soon either way and he couldn't be bothered about it.
"I better head back to my room. There's this book I've been wanting to study and I better get to it." Seth peeled himself away from his mother's embrace and walked out of the room, heading to his private room, a floor beneath this one.
The few maids he met on the way to his room always bowed politely when he passed by them. They had to show respect to the future master. He would always wave back with a gentle smile that never left his face.
When he entered his room, the gentle smile vanished, replaced by a wretched one.
He closed the door behind him and covered the entire room in a mana barrier. Now, no one would sense whatever was about to happen. The only ones who could do that were his father and the eldest daughter but neither of them was anywhere close.
He walked toward one of the plain walls in the room. "Open." Seth said with mana imbued into his words.
The wall split open and revealed a two-meter square-shaped space behind it.
Behind it were items of value to Seth. Gold coins heaped up so much that they could sustain the entire household for the next one or two years.
If gold coins were the only thing, then he wouldn't be Draneil. Different weapons lay in there as well as different jewelry. The worth of everything in here could probably cover the expenses of the household for a decade.
Seeing these valuables, Seth wore a smile so big, it could drown other people's sorrows.
He opened the seemingly small pouch in his hand and put his hand into it.
He pulled out a handful of gold coins, each with an identical drawing of a wolf with a crown on them. The same as the other coins inside this safe of his.
He arranged the coins and once more pulled out a handful of coins from the small pouch.
This pouch was originally a foot big but after inscribing runes on it, it had shrunk down in size while the space inside remained the same.
If others heard that a fifteen-year-old had inscribed runes on an item, they would laugh it off as a joke but Seth had done so before he even became nine years.
His talent was beyond insane. Although he wanted to do more than just inscribed small runes, the amount of mana he had could only do so much.
While children started sensing mana and began training on it latest at the age of thirteen and earliest at the age of ten, Seth could sense it the same day he was born and began training the moment he could walk on his feet.
With his memories and knowledge as Draneil, it was as easy as going to sleep. He was leagues ahead of anyone his age and even those that were years older than him.
After putting his hand into the pouch a total of twenty times, the gold coins in the bag had all been taken out.
Seeing this much wealth made him ecstatic. He felt like he should've thanked those thieves a bit more for making him able to amass this much wealth.
He closed the wall, a big smile still on his face. He walked towards his bed and climbed on it happily, and folded his legs.
He was a one-in-a-thousand-year genius and he was probably the richest nine-year-old in the entire country.
Nothing else could bring him this much amount of joy.
He closed his eyes as he entered into meditation. The mana around him answered his call immediately.